Consuming media presentations generally involves listening to audio information and/or viewing video information such as, for example, radio programs, music, television programs, movies, still images, etc. Media-centric companies such as, for example, advertising companies, broadcasting networks, etc. are often interested in the viewing and listening interests of their audience to better market their products. A well-known technique often used to measure the exposure and/or number of audience members exposed to media involves awarding media exposure credit to a media presentation each time an audience member is exposed to the media presentation.
The awarding of media exposure credit is often determined by monitoring the media consumption of audience members. The media consumption activities of audience members are often monitored using personal portable metering devices (PPMs), which are also known as portable metering devices and portable personal meters. A PPM is an electronic device that is typically worn (e.g., clipped to a belt or other apparel) or carried by an audience member. In general, PPMs are configured to use a variety of techniques to monitor the media consumption (e.g., viewing and/or listening activities) of a person. For example, one technique for monitoring media consumption involves detecting or collecting information (e.g., ancillary codes, signatures, etc.) from audio and/or video signals that are emitted or presented by media delivery devices (e.g., televisions, stereos, speakers, computers, etc.)
While wearing a PPM, an audience member or monitored individual performs their usual daily routine, which may include listening to the radio and/or other sources of audio media and/or watching television programs and/or other sources of visual media. As the audience member consumes (e.g., views, listens to, etc.) media, a PPM associated with (e.g., assigned to and carried by) that audience member may detect audio and/or video information associated with the media and generate monitoring data. In general, monitoring data may include any information that is representative of (or associated with) and/or that may be used to identify a particular media presentation (e.g., a song, a television program, a movie, a video game, etc.) For example, the monitoring data may include signatures that are collected or generated by the PPM based on the media, audio codes that are broadcast simultaneously with (e.g., embedded in) the media, etc.
As a person wearing a PPM travels throughout their household, the PPM receives audio and/or video content information provided by media delivery devices (e.g., televisions, radios, etc.) distributed throughout the household. The audio/video content may be encoded to facilitate subsequent identification of the audio/video content and/or the PPMs may be configured to use signature generation techniques to identify audio/video content received by the PPMs. In any case, each person's PPM may receive different audio/video content based on the person's unique location (e.g., within their household, at another location outside their household, etc.) and their location relative to the one or more media delivery devices to which they and their PPM are exposed.
Unfortunately, the typical household presents unique monitoring challenges to the PPM. For example, a typical household includes multiple media delivery devices, each configured to deliver media content to specific viewing and/or listening areas located within the home. A PPM, carried by a person who is located in one of the viewing and/or listening areas, is configured to detect any media content being delivered in the viewing and/or listening area and to credit the programming associated with the media content as having been consumed. Thus, the PPM operates on the premise that any media content detected by the PPM is associated with programming that was consumed by the person carrying the PPM. However, in some cases, a person's PPM may detect media content that is emitted by a media delivery device that is not located within the viewing or listening proximity of the person carrying the PPM thereby causing the detected programming to be improperly credited. The ability of the PPM to detect audio/video content being delivered outside of the viewing and/or listening proximity of the person carrying the PPM is an effect referred to as “spillover” because the media content being delivered outside of the viewing and/or listening proximity of the person carrying the PPM is described as “spilling over” into the area occupied by the person carrying the PPM. Spillover may occur, for example, in a case where a monitored individual in a bedroom is reading a book, but their PPM detects audio/video content delivered by a television in an adjacent living room, i.e., outside of their viewing/listening proximity, causing the audio/video content to be improperly credited as having been consumed.
Another effect, referred to as “hijacking” occurs when a person's PPM detects audio/video content being emitted from multiple media delivery devices at the same time. For example, an adult watching a television news program in a household kitchen may be located near a household family room in which children are watching a television cartoon program on a different television. Yet, the cartoon programming delivered by the family room television may, in some cases, have signals that overpower or “hijack” the signals associated with the news programming being emitted by the kitchen television. As a result, the adult's PPM may inaccurately credit the cartoon program as having been viewed by the adult and fail to credit the news program with any viewing. Still further, other common difficulties such as varying volume levels, varying audio/video content type (e.g., sparse, medium, rich, etc.), varying household transmission characteristics due to open/closed doors, movement and/or placement of furniture, acoustic characteristics of room layouts, wall construction, floor coverings, ceiling heights, etc. often lead to inaccurate audio/video content consumption detection by PPMs.